Good Attendance Sets A Good Foundation

“Education is kind of like a good story. It builds off the foundation. If you miss school a lot like I did growing up, you’ll be jumping into the middle of the story – without any character development, and it will be a lot more difficult to follow along and understand. If you start the story from the beginning and push through, you’ll have learned a lot of valuable information that you can use to change the world!”

– Cynthia, 21 years old, a former foster youth who realized a little later in life how important attending school all day, every day is for every student

Attendance Works initiated September as Attendance Awareness Month to promote consistent school attendance. Schools across the state and nation compete to have the highest percentage of students at school all day long with the hopes that by establishing early-year attendance habits, those habits will continue throughout the school year.

We asked some of our favorite students across the state why they think school attendance is important. We could all heed their advice – and by engaging with our schools and families, help promote the multitude of benefits our schools provide our future workforce, parents, and leaders. As Jacob puts it “schools help the student to learn and improve their daily life.”

“If I miss just one day, I become so behind on all my classes, and it takes me forever to get caught up with all my missed assignments. This is the reality that most kids don’t realize. My school recently had to let a few teachers go, because our attendance was so low last school year. Children don’t realize that if you miss school all the time it doesn’t just affect you – your school, and even your whole district can be affected. I think kids should be at school everyday because if not, they are missing out on very important instructional time that they will never get back.”

– Amber, high school senior

“Attendance is important because students are more likely to succeed in life and academics when they attend school consistently. It’s difficult for the teacher and the class to build their skills and progress if a large number of students are absent.”

– Jason, high school sophomore

“One of the greatest obstacles to a child’s education is simply not being in class. Absences stifle the educational process, causing students to fall behind academically, and thus irreversibly damaging their scholastic success. Attendance “every” day, not just “some” days, is the greatest choice a student could make while in school.”

– Thomas, high school senior

To find out more about how the entire community can engage in unique ways to promote consistent attendance, check out the Attendance Works website. Businesses, healthcare providers, elected officials, families, and the school communities can work together to build strong habits for our children.